The visual sensitivity of a human being is from about 4,000 Ångstroms (violet) to 7,000 Ångstroms (deep red) so the use of the ångström as a unit provided a fair amount of discrimination without resort to fractional units. Because of its closeness to the scale of atomic and molecular structures it also became popular in chemistry and crystallography.

Today, the use of the Ångstrom as a unit is less popular than it used to be and the nanometre (nm) is often used instead (with the Ångstrom being officially discouraged by both the International Committee for Weights and Measures and the American National Standard for Metric Practice).